Starting in beef cattle

[Popa Cosmin]

Breeding beef cattle isn't a common business (occupation) in my country. All the cows were bred for milk ( Holstein and Simmental).
The cow meat is imported (Brasilia) and consummators haven't a taste or preferences for quality meat. The breeders use Holstein calves to make them fat and sell them as very good quality meat.
Romania will receive money from European Union and direct payments and subsidies in the next years (no frontier with E.U. beginning 2007)

The farmers are more and more interested in beef cattle, because the European rules are very firm concerning animal welfare and the people haven't so much money to go into a milk affair.
So I bought 32 full French Charolaise heifers this year thinking I am a smart guy.
I paid about 1.700 $ per head. I bought some semen too.
I have about 50 ha arable and 20 ha for permanent grazing. The land is cheap there and very good too (400 $ per 1 ha ). We have 2 barns and farm equipment. We have a little experience in cattle.

So, I should like to hear yours opinion about my breeding program for the next years.
How do you think that I shall run through?

Because English is not my native language I shall point a few others point to make a clearer image on my situation and I wait for others questions if will be necessary.
I hope you will give me some valuable tips to have success in this business.


A few abattoirs
Undeveloped market.
A few general knowledge about beef cattle
A developed system for artificial insemination. Only 3 bulls for beef cattle.
A high percents of population live in rural areas and live from agriculture.

Thank you and I hope to not bore you!
Cosmin

 

[john250]

The cow meat is imported (Brasilia) and consummators haven't a taste or preferences for quality meat. The breeders use Holstein calves to make them fat and sell them as very good quality meat.

Thank you and I hope to not bore you!
Cosmin

Papa Cosmin
How will you sell the calves from the cows you've purchased? Are there buyers for fattened cattle?
What will you feed the cows and what will you feed the calves?
Not at all bored. Stay with us.

 

[dun]

I can't address any of the other issues but your english is better then a lot of the posters on here. And it's a lot better then my Romanian.
Good luck

dun

 

[Popa Cosmin]

The problem is that we don't know …

We are grazing the cattle (April -December) and the calves. We feed them with hay, alfalfa and supplements in winter. The work and the feed system are like yours.
We are someway in the 1950 in U.S.A. (concerning education in beef cattle) but the market rules are different.
My cows are good animals, with good pedigree.
There are some buyers for fattened cattle but they don't make differences between milk cattle and beef cattle when they buy it. ( only the weight is important - so isn't so fair).
I was thinking at:
1. Producing bulls for crossing in Romanian cows? The cows are for milk but the genetic value is down ( 7 litre /day / cow ).
The U.E established a quotation for milk production and there are some unemployed cows because are too many and on the other side we imported good milk cows from Holland, France etc.
2. Producing females pour reproductions and sold them as heifers?
3. Both of them?

Cosmin

 

[cmjust0]

A hectare is 2.5 acres, roughl, meaning that Romanian land is about $160/acre.

And it's temperate enough to graze from April to December..

Wow. :shock:

If I had 32 beef cows worth $1,700/ea in a milk cow nation, and if the beef buyers didn't discount milk cows like they do here, I'd sell those 32 beef cows and put that money into about 100 hectares (250 acres) to add to my 70 hectares (175 acres) and buy as many holsteins or simmentals as I could with the rest.. Then I'd put grass in front of them, a bull behind them, and let them do what cows do. I'd take whatever I could get out of the calves.

The reason I say this is because, in my part of the world (Kentucky, USA), decent grazing land costs between $7,500 and $10,000 per hectare and a decent 7-8 year old bred holstein cow can be had for $500 (or less) around here..

What would a 7-8 year old bred holstein cow cost in Romania?

 

[Popa Cosmin]

You are right with the land….

Concerning cows…In E.U. only farmers who have the right to produce milk can do that. If you want to come in the business you must by first the quotas from a farmer who wants to retire or to sell you. If a farm produces more milk than it quotas it must pay a fine (some money) and no subsidies for it.

A good milk cow can be imported from Holland for 900-1500 $.
Romanian cows wasn't for sale, because was a few (good cows) and the keeper want to obtain big quotas for the next years. (Quotas were shared to the farmers who were in business at beginning 2004-2005).
But you must buy the all equipment. You must have 2 bathrooms (men and women) in stall and other conditions to obtain the authorizations. You must waste a lot of money to be on the right way…and it is a lot of work.
And if you haven't sufficient milk you will not be able to sell it because the car-milk doesn't go to your farm for 600 l per day.

But I like to know why milk cows are cheaper than beef cows.

For example in Germany an France a good milk heifer with pedigree is 1500-1700 $ and a beef one is 1700-2500 $. I assumed that the in E.U. milk farmers are forced to sale the heifers because of the quotas. And the buyers must have a quota to buy it. For beef cattle there are no quotas.
But in U.S.A. and Canada?

 

[backhoeboogie]

For example in Germany an France a good milk heifer with pedigree is 1500-1700 $ and a beef one is 1700-2500 $. I assumed that the in E.U. milk farmers are forced to sale the heifers because of the quotas. And the buyers must have a quota to buy it. For beef cattle there are no quotas.
But in U.S.A. and Canada?

It is obviously demand.

There are no quotas here in the USA with cattle. Anyone can raise them. Any amount of them.

Some feedlots buy steers and heifers and feed them out for market beef. There is a good demand for beef by consumers.

There are folks like me who raise cattle and sell them at local auctions. I also usually feed out some steers for friends and haul them to a butcher shop. The friends take the whole (or 1/2 animal if the are splitting it up with another person) and put it in their freezer at home to eat throughout the year.

I think if I were in your situation, I'd focus on obtaining a really good bull that I could line breed from. I'd take that bull and cross it with those dairy cows. The dairy cows could continue to produce milk but the offspring would be a seed stock. Retain the heifers and cross them back to the bull. The offspring of the second generation would have 3/4 of the bull's bloodline.

If you cross a good beef bull with those dairy cows you have available, the steers would be better beef market animals than pure dairy steers.

Your land there is cheap compared to what we pay here. That was previously pointed out. But you should place importance on that aspect. I'd buy more land if I could at those prices.

Pay very close attention to your climate condition and get yourself a breed (or breeds) that thrive in those conditions. That is very important.

Without a well established beef market, it is difficult to know what consumers in Romania are going to want to buy.

Can you establish a market yourself? Maybe a public auction system on your property? You could invite members from the meat market/butchershop industry and other farmers.

 

[OK Jeanne]

Our farm had an email inquiry from Germany. That farmer
was interested in buying our Murray Grey embryos and
semen. I believe he was going to establish a breeding herd
and sell the beef directly from his farm. Or it could have
been that he was going to sell the animal at slaughter age
to the customer, who would then take the animal to
the slaughter-house.The amount of and types of
regulations in the EU sounds like a nightmare.